


Artificial Heart

by loftyperch



Series: Artificial Heart [1]
Category: Avengers (Comics), Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, Identity Porn, M/M, Robosexuality, Romance, Slash, Soap Opera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-15
Updated: 2013-09-28
Packaged: 2017-12-23 15:09:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 8,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/927948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loftyperch/pseuds/loftyperch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve makes a big assumption when he first meets Iron Man ... and falls in love anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Once upon a time (60's? 70's?) Tony Stark really did try to keep his identity a secret, even from his teammates. In this particular head canon he still does, mostly with lies of omission.
> 
> Yeah, I've been slacking off on my other stories in favor of this craziness (and planning my wedding! :D) I hope it's worth it.
> 
> I own none of the characters depicted below.

Steve wasn't aware of waking up - or even passing out for that matter. He just suddenly found himself cornered and panting in some kind of medical facility, an honest-to-god robot staring him down from the other side of his shield, shining blue palms outstretched toward him in warning.

"Guys, hold back," the machine, all gleaming red and gold under the flourescents, motioned for the small crowd around it to stand down. "I think he's okay now." Accordingly six men in gray suits lowered their guns, and an unnervingly tall, barrel chested blond lowered his hammer.

"Where am I?" Steve asked breathlessly, the sound of the crash still thundering in his ears, the taste of salt water still rushing past his lips. "Are you Allies?"

"You're on a military vessel in the North Atlantic. My name is Iron Man, and yes, we're all American here." 

The machine, this aptly named _Iron Man_ , offered a gracefully articulated hand and tilted its head as if it was actually thinking.

"What _are_ you?" Steve remained crouched behind his shield and did not offer his own hand. Who had the technology sufficient to build such a machine? Did Hydra? Did the Russians? Who were these people who claimed to be American military?

"I'm a friend."

"Did Howard build you?"

"Let's just say I couldn't have been built without him."

Iron Man's voice was difficult to read, his face even more so, and Steve was not happy in the least with that non-answer. He still didn't take the patiently outstretched metal hand - the one that had just been aiming what he assumed was a weapon at his forehead.

"What aren't you telling me?"

"Are you sure you're ready to hear anything I have to say? Can you handle _any_ of the consequences of crashing that plane?"

Some of the suited men glanced at each other warily. The big guy tightened his grip on the hammer.

"Try me."

"You've been asleep, preserved in the ice, for many years, Captain."

"How many? Ten? Twenty?" Steve's head spun, too terrified it was the truth to believe it.

"Longer."

"A ... hundred?" It couldn't be true ... but he was talking to a goddamn _robot_.

"Not quite that long. You've been hibernating for sixty-nine years. I was built by Howard's son."

It had to be a lie ... but if he was going to be lied to anyway, then why did the lie have to be so bizarre?

"Prove it." His voice wavered. He was starting to feel a little faint.

"I can, but you need to rest now and let the doctors take a look at you. We're a few days away from New York. When we reach land, Mr. Stark will show you everything you need to see."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iron Man is a good listener.

"Breakfast time, Cap," called Iron Man from the doorway of Steve's tiny cabin.

Steve just kept staring out his grimy porthole.

"Coulson made it special for you, Spam and eggs I think."

"I'm not hungry, thank you." Steve struggled to hold back the tears that were slowly creeping up on him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Iron Man asked, startlingly perceptive for a machine.

As it turned out, Steve _did_ want to talk about it, though he wasn't quite sure what _it_ was. So he just poured his heart out indiscriminately, no longer caring if he was in some sort of trap - something he was suspecting less with each passing day. He talked about Peggy and the Howling Commandos and Howard and Col. Phillips, about how painful it was to picture them all dead and gone. He talked about Hydra and the war and how strange it was to think it was over, how difficult it was to believe that Germany and Japan were now two of America's staunchest allies.

Iron Man listened attentively to the whole tirade, nodding and making small, electronic noises of understanding.

"And what is this? _Metropolis_? I mean look at you! You're this incredible, beautiful, walking, talking, thinking ... _thing_."

"Beautiful?"

"Very."

Steve didn't get a verbal response, but he caught Iron Man sneaking a glance in the nightstand mirror, which made him smile for the first time since waking up.

"So what are these Avengers Coulson mentioned?" He changed the subject, a little afraid he had confused the poor bot.

"Well, in a way, we're all trying to be you. We're all trying to be heroes. Our ranks are pretty fluid, just about every hero on the east coast has been an Avenger at one time or another. Currently there are five of us. There's myself; Thor, who you've met; Black Widow and Hawkeye, two agents who came over from SHIELD; and Dr. Bruce Banner, a scientist who transforms into an indestructible force of unparalleled destruction when he gets angry."

"A what?"

"A Hulk. He's a good man, though. I swear he even feels bad for heat killing bacteria. You won't have to walk on eggshells around him."

"And Thor? What's his story?"

"Alien."

"Oh."

"Don't worry. You'll fit right in, Cap."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Captain."
> 
> "Mr. Stark."

"We're almost there. You should be able to see Liberty Island any minute now," said Iron Man, looking out across the sea, unruffled by the stiff, cold wind. "I'll fly ahead and tell Mr. Stark to meet you at the pier."

"Can't you just radio in?"

"Trust me, Cap, a few texts won't be enough to get him out of bed."

Steve couldn't tell if Iron Man had a sense of humor or if he actually meant Howard's son was still asleep at one in the afternoon.

"Why didn't he come along in the first place?"

"This mission was strictly for Avengers and SHIELD agents. Mr. Stark is neither." And with that, the robot was gone like a shot into the overcast sky.

\---------

As promised, a limo awaited at the bottom of the gangplank. Beside it stood what could only be Iron Man's maker, a rakishly good looking man in a conspicuously expensive black suit.

"Captain."

"Mr. Stark." 

One shrewd, assessing glance told Steve this guy was trouble. He may have had Howard's big, dark eyes and penchant for precision facial hair, but there was a stiffness to his posture, a certain bitterness to his features that just screamed 'chip on his shoulder.' It must have come from his mother's side.

"I thought you'd be taller."

"Where's Iron Man? I was given to understand he's your bodyguard."

"Oh him? He's in the trunk."

Clearly he and the younger Stark disagreed on the appropriate way to treat sentient beings.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve settles in.

Stark set him up with a beautiful little Park Slope brownstone, fully furnished, where he found all his personal belongings waiting for him, carefully packed and labeled.

"So, y'know, you get settled in, decompress for a few hours, and then we'll hit the town. You can ask questions, I can struggle to answer them, we'll have dinner, maybe that new hot pot place -"

"Would it be ... okay if Iron Man showed me around instead?" Steve looked away so he wouldn't have to see Stark's reaction.

"I ... don't see why not."

"I don't mean to be rude, but -"

"No, I understand. You know him better. It's fine. He'll be here at eight."

\---------

At 7:59 Steve was dressed and ready, looking pretty put together for a guy who had no idea what kind of a city he was going to find when he walked out his door. He checked the pleat of his slacks, his shirt collar, his freshly washed-but-untrimmed hair, and he tried not to wonder what the world outside would make of him.

At 8 o'clock sharp the doorbell rang.

They ended up spending the night in, with the fancy organic cheeseburger, locally brewed pale ale and thick stack of newspapers and magazines Iron Man had brought. They talked until the small hours of the morning, and Steve felt unaccountably reassured about the world when he finally fell into bed; he knew there were huge problems like climate change, terrorism, regime-toppling revolutions, terrible pop music, a global recession and a map he barely recognized, but there had been no World War III, and there were people like Iron Man looking out for the little guys. 

And yes, everyone he ever knew and loved was dead, but many of them had gone on to live long, fulfilling, productive lives. It wasn't much comfort, but it was still comfort.

\--------

Over the next few weeks, Steve had plenty to worry about, from smartphones and 24-hour news to slang and five-dollar loaves of bread. Five _whole_ dollars!

The one thing Steve never - ever- had to worry about was his competence in the field. He found instant gratification and validation in his hard work on strange new battlegrounds, facing down every danger the universe could throw at him. There were threats he'd never imagined in his previous life, wonders like helicarriers and enormities like nuclear weapons (which he was sad to learn Howard had helped design), and there were certainly no Geneva Conventions in this new, never-ending, ever-shifting conflict.

He was protecting people, which was all he had ever wanted to do, and he was justly proud. More importantly, he was protecting people alongside others who understood him, comrades he respected, admired and trusted. He really couldn't have asked for a better work environment, though he missed the rigid structures and familiar rituals of the army.

He made many new acquaintances, several friends, and he even got to have coffee with Peggy's granddaughter a few times. No one could ever replace the Commandos or Bucky or Peggy - and Tony Stark certainly couldn't replace his father - but he found himself surrounded by people just as irreplaceable, just as real and important as those he'd abandoned so long ago.

And one of them wasn't even a person.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve can't help but bother Tony.

"So, does he have feelings?" Steve asked as his wandering came to a stop at the back of Stark's lab, at the foot of the tall glass case where Iron Man 'slept.'

"Well, more feelings than JARVIS has," Tony answered distractedly, furiously scribbling in mid air. "No offense, buddy."

"None taken, sir."

Steve smiled up at the scowling lines of Iron Man's face. No wonder he had seemed so frightening when they first met with a mug like that. Now that a month had passed, the frozen expression appeared benevolent, almost kind, to Steve. The eyes and arc reactor were dark though, and there would be no friendly banter that evening.

"When do you think he'll be done charging?"

"Few hours."

"He saved some kittens yesterday."

Tony sighed hard, but Steve refused to take the hint.

"He could have been crushed, but he jumped right in to hold up the building." Steve warmed at the memory of it, the juxtaposition of a manmade heart and such a tender act. He recalled the cries of the kittens as he scooped them into his shield and the crash of the collapsing apartment building once Iron Man let its weight slide off his shoulders.

"I know."

"And he was so gentle with them afterward. I was a little nervous letting him hold one, he's so strong after all, but he stroked it and it curled up in his palm and went to sleep."

"Mm. Very cute." Tony didn't even sound like he was listening anymore. "JARVIS, get Bruce on the line, I think I made a breakthrough on the heat exchange problem. Steve, do you mind clearing out?"

"Oh, sure, sorry to bug you, I just wanted to stop in to see Iron Man ... I like all my teammates, but I think he's my favorite."

"Of course he is."


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A first for Iron Man.

Steve slipped and fell hard to the pavement for the seventh time that afternoon. Iron Man reached out to stop the descent, but they were both covered, head to toe, in the slippery leavings of the giant, mutant slug that had just made its way down Fifth Avenue, and they hit the ground side by side.

The beast was just the latest in a long string of oversized animals, the source of which was still unknown (though their target always seemed to be, oddly enough, the Metropolitan Museum), and it had only been felled by another of Iron Man's near-self-sacrifices, a fearless nosedive into the gaping, circular mouth with a ridiculous block of C4 under each arm. Unfortunately, the exploding slug had splattered everything in sight with a generous helping of clear, goopy slime. This was on top of the blocks and blocks of trail it had left behind.

These animals were never terribly difficult to kill, but they were all terribly disgusting. Between the stink bug, the earthworm and the naked mole rat, Steve had foregone a few lunches in the past few weeks.

And this was far from improvement. He struggled to get up, but fell again, barely keeping his eyes and mouth clear of the clinging gunk.

"Don't bother," groaned Iron Man, giving in and flopping backwards with a sluggish splash. "I'm sure this stuff's soluble in something. Coulson'll be along soon enough to get us out."

A big part of Steve - the soldier in him - didn't want to admit defeat at the ... _hands?_ ... of such a simple animal. But he was getting bruised at this point and he heard no civilian screams or sirens. And another part of him, smaller and crankier, just wanted a moment's rest.

So why not? The monster was vanquished, there was no one was around to see them with so little dignity, no one around to distract them with a debriefing or a critique of their tactics ... and for once Iron Man wasn't dashing off to his duties at Stark Tower, like the good little appliance Tony wanted him to be.

"What if they never come?" Steve asked mostly in jest, making conversation to distract himself from the slime seeping into his boots and under his cowl. 

"Then I would be honored to die by your side, trapped like flies in a flood of Astroglide."

"That's great," oh god, it was in his gloves, "but I don't want you to die."

"I'm the invincible Iron Man ..."

"I mean it," he almost snapped. "I thought you were a goner for a minute there. Damn near gave me a heart attack. I don't want to lose my new best friend as soon as I've found him." Steve managed to sit up, yanked off his cowl and finally began to catch his breath, but not without a haunting flash of that endless moment when another best friend died because he was too brave for his own good.

Iron Man was silent for a long while, his features, as ever, unreadable.

Steve could practically hear the circuit boards calculating a response.

"Am I really ... your best friend?"

"Is that okay?"

"I've never been anyone's best friend before."

It still amazed Steve that Iron Man's voice could be so level and so bewildered at the same time.

"Do I need to ... _do_ something? Do we need a secret handshake?"

"You just need to stay alive." Trying to think of something to say that wasn't about Bucky, Steve reached out and scraped some goop off that stern, golden face. "Just don't leave me."

Iron Man raised his own hand to hold Steve's palm softly against his cheek.

"I won't."


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party. And the after-party.

Tony really was handsome, Steve had to admit - especially at black tie receptions such as this one - hair slicked back, eyes bright from the scotch, working the crowd effortlessly with one hand in his pocket. He had that fine bone structure and rapier wit which seemed to run in his family. He was neither tall nor young, but he had a smile that just wouldn't quit, an energy, a laugh that could light up a room and rippled from person to person. And that tux fit him so well, it made Steve a little self conscious about his humble brown uniform. 

"It's a shame Iron Man couldn't make it," Steve said when the playboy finally mingled his way over.

Tony even _smelled_ handsome.

"Trust me, Cap, his place is in the field. This is _my_ battleground. Fury won't let me join his little club, but he's always delighted to exploit my political connections and accept my financial contributions ... and my tireless labor maintaining that hunk of scrap metal."

But Tony was kind of an ass.

"You should take more pride in him. He's magnificent."

"That's right, I forgot, you guys are BFFs now." Those lovely brown eyes - like _hers_ \- flitted to the side just in case Steve didn't catch the sarcasm.

"He told you that?"

"He didn't have to. I know everything he knows. Remember that next time the Avengers talk shit about me in front of him." 

And with a sip of his scotch Tony was gone, leaving Steve to frantically rack his brain for any disparaging remarks he may have made (inadvertently or otherwise) recently.

\------------

"You look very nice tonight," said Iron Man, almost shyly, as he alighted on the rooftop of Steve's little brownstone.

"Thanks." Steve grinned, grateful that even if Iron Man had no taste in fashion he took the time to give the compliment.

"Did you have fun at the party?"

"I'd have had more fun watching movies with you."

"Oh ... I ... really?"

"Thanks for stopping by tonight. I just needed to see a friendly face." Steve knew he sounded depressed, but couldn't help it. He even kind of hoped Iron Man would pick up on it. Turning away from his guest and the light of the streetlamp, he gazed up at what few stars he could see.

"Steve?" Sure enough, Iron Man caught the hitch in his voice and laid a heavy hand on his shoulder.

"Would you ever lie to me?" The question stunned even Steve, who had meant to say something much less selfish.

"Only to protect you."

"Well," Steve grinned again, in spite of himself, "just don't be _too_ protective of me."

"What's wrong? Did ... someone upset you? I know Mr. Stark can be very, _very_ rude sometimes."

"He _was_ pretty rude, but that's not it. I guess I'm just lonely. The last time I was at a party it was 1941. Peggy wore this red dress and Bucky hit on her. Dum Dum taught me the stupidest song ... I don't even remember the words anymore."

The embrace came swiftly, with a strength that brooked no refusal, and Steve fell gladly into it, resting his cheek on a smooth shoulder and slipping his arms around a slim, jointed waist. He didn't move until metal had warmed with his body heat, didn't speak until the tears no longer threatened to break free.

"Thank you," he finally whispered.

"What are friends for?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's not the only one who knows how to push buttons.

"Hello, Mr. Stark, Dr. Banner," Steve entered the lab as politely as possible, aware that he was probably interrupting some very important research. The two scientists, thick as thieves these days, had clearly been hunched over the table for some time, books, maps and papers scattered across it.

He resisted the urge to wave at the powered-down Iron Man, seated stiffly with an ethernet cable stretching from the back of his head to the nearest wall.

"Hi Steve," Bruce was the only one who looked up from his clipboard.

"What are you guys working on?"

"Saving the world," Tony answered, head down, distracted as usual. "Bruce, what do you need to hit AC0?"

"Three when I'm eighteen-double-aught, four otherwise. I just leveled up."

"Hm, maybe you should take the plus-one, and I'll take the D8s."

"Can Iron Man come out to play?" Steve broke in before the scientific gibberish got any further above his head.

"Not till he's done downloading some patches. He could get buggy if he disconnects half way through."

"Can I stop by later?"

"Why? You guys have a date?" Tony's uplifted eyebrows dared Steve to answer.

"And what if we did?" Steve's scowl dared him right back.

"Then you'd be a crazy person."

"Tony, be nice ..." Bruce tried to intercede.

"Not as crazy as anyone who'd date _you_ ," Steve spat back, delighted by Tony's scandalized gasp and that pretty little mouth dropping open in shock. And while Tony worked to formulate a properly scathing retort and Bruce fought off laughter, Steve marched right up to Iron Man and planted a long, hard kiss on his ... _lips?_ ... complete with a soft moan and a big wet smack.

He thought Tony was going to burst a blood vessel, and it felt like the sweetest revenge he'd ever exacted.

Before the argument could escalate any further, though, three alarms went off at once, one in Steve's pocket, one on Bruce's wrist and one on Iron Man's chest.

"Gentlemen," JARVIS announced, "Agent Coulson is on the line, he says there is a giant praying mantis trying to mate with the Empire State Building."

"Take a message," shouted Tony, already shoving Steve out of the way to get to Iron Man. "Pause the download, JARVIS, power him up," he ordered, and he was off like a shot to a nearby StarkPad, suddenly calm and focused.

Eyes lighting up even as the arc reactor remained dark, Iron Man stood and stared straight ahead.

"You good to fight, Shellhead?" Steve asked with what he hoped was an encouraging fist to the shoulder.

Iron Man hadn't _seen_ any of the past few minutes, had he?

The machine looked briefly, silently, at Steve before turning his gaze forward again.

Oh ... maybe he _had_ been watching.

"Uh ... hey, sorry about that kiss ... I was just trying to prove a point ..."

Iron Man gave him another empty glance, and again faced front.

"Not that it wasn't very nice ..."

" _Steve!_ " Bruce cried, halfway out the door. "Come on!"

"Right, coming."

Steve looked back before he slipped into the hall, but Iron Man just kept staring off into the distance as if he couldn't see anything at all.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teamwork.

Steve really started to worry when the battle was in full swing and Iron Man still hadn't arrived. The Avengers were down their heaviest hitters; Banner insisted that the mantis and its ilk were just elaborate distractions, and that he had to run some long range scans instead of smashing this time; Thor only got a few good swings in before the monster plucked him out of the sky and held him fast in the crook of its right claw.

Widow was on the ground with a grappling gun and steel cables that the mantis was snapping like twine, Hawkeye beside her with arrows the creature was blithely ignoring. Without Iron Man, Steve had very few options.

But then, just as all hope for the city seemed lost, a flash of red and gold broke through the clouds ... and crashed into the rooftop beside Steve.

"I'm okay!" Iron Man insisted as he pulled himself out of the wreckage. "I'm just flying a little blind here. My navigation and targeting displays keep rebooting. Just point me in the right direction."

"Good enough!" Steve guided the impaired bot to the corner closest to the monster, which was now nibbling inquisitively on Thor's head. He positioned himself squarely against Iron Man, feet together, hips together, one arm slung securely around his neck and one hand leading his wrist into position. "He's gonna come after us as soon as you fire, so get three quick shots off. Then on my mark give me fifteen-percent boosters directly to three o'clock for ... maybe two seconds. I'm going to reset you, then I want the biggest unibeam you can give me."

"Jeez, Cap, buy a guy dinner first."

"FIRE!"

Three shots. Boosters. A falling building and the whoosh of a giant green claw. Solid ground. Reposition. Bam.

They moved together like they'd been practicing this routine for years, Iron Man instantly responsive to Steve's slightest direction, unconditionally trusting in his judgment. Wordless. Intuitive.

It was thrilling.

The unibeam sliced a deep, charred gash in the mantis' face, and Thor indeed fell free, but it was Hulk that saved them in the end (screaming "HULK SQUASH PUNY BUG!").

"Did we win?" Iron Man asked when the sickening squelch of big green fists pummeling bug flesh had subsided.

"I think so." Steve's heart was thudding hard, not just from the battle, but from what was easily the most intimate - the most satisfying - contact Steve had shared with anyone in seventy years.

"Then ... uh ... you can let go, Cap."

"Oh, sorry."

Iron man gave a little electronic chuckle.

"Now," he began, motioning for Steve to guide him away from the fray, "what was that point you were trying to prove earlier?"

Oh god.

"I was trying to show Tony that you don't belong to him." It wasn't exactly a lie, but it sounded a heck of a lot more mature than 'to piss off your boss' and a heck of a lot less desperate than 'I'm starved for physical affection, and you're pretty cute in a science fiction sort of way.'

"I see."

Iron Man's disappointment was visible if not audible.

"I promise," Steve smiled and squeezed his friend's hand, "... next time I'll wait till you're awake."


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And old enemy rears its ugly head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it's so short and ... unfulfilling ... I'll do better next time ;)

"It's Hydra. I'm sure of it," said Bruce once they'd all assembled, Avengers and SHIELD agents alike, his findings a tangle of numbers and lines on the screen behind him.

Steve found himself rising from his chair, as if he could simply march out that door and bash a bright red skull in. Only an iron grip on his wrist tethered him to reality, sat him back down with the gentle, relentless strength of a friend who had his best interests at heart.

"Where?" he demanded. The others, even the nearly blind Iron Man, shot him a glance, unused to hearing that tone of voice from him.

"A few miles off the coast. They've been releasing these creatures - probably Zola's handiwork - to keep SHIELD occupied while they do something which releases a weak but distinct energy. We've seen remnants of the same energy signature at abandoned Hydra bases all over the world."

"What is it they're doing?" asked Iron Man, still clinging as if afraid to let Steve go.

"I couldn't say. Experimenting? Building something? Searching for something? I propose we send someone in to get specifics before we attempt anything else."

"I'll go," said Steve, though the offer sounded ridiculous even to his own ears.

"The fuck you will." Fury cut him down with a disparaging glare, instantly regaining control of the meeting. "Widow. You're up. Pick a team if you want, but get it done quick and quiet."

"I don't think a team will be necessary, sir."

"Good. Banner, give her some coordinates, she's leaving tonight."

\-----------------

Steve seethed as he led Iron Man into Tony's lab, hadn't stopped seething since he'd heard the word 'Hydra.'

"Steve ..." Iron Man began, tentative and uncertain. "I've got to finish my download ... but I think you should stay for a while ... maybe talk to Mr. Stark."

As if this night couldn't get any more aggravating.

"Couldn't I just punch some holes in the wall?" he grumbled.

"I'd rather you didn't. Just go up to the lounge, put on some TV, and he'll be there in a few minutes."

"Can I shower first?"

"Towels are under the sink."


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Tony call a truce.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long. Busy week and all. But I think we're getting into the really juicy stuff now.

Steve was feeling a little exposed, seated on someone else's couch in nothing but a towel, his attempts to decipher the remote long abandoned. He'd helped himself to the liquor - his host certainly had enough to spare - and, like the hot shower, a few full glasses helped to relax his muscles, unwind the temper coiled in his chest.

Tony didn't take long to arrive, wet like Steve, and wrapped in a luxurious red bathrobe that parted to reveal far too much thigh as he perched on the coffee table.

"Let's not fight tonight," he began softly, eyes dark, earnest and so damn _familiar_.

"Fine with me," How easy it would be, Steve thought without warning, to rip open that robe and reveal Tony completely. How good it would feel to bend him back over the table, to find the one fulfillment Iron Man could not provide in his flesh ... to work out all his frustration, all his confusion, right then and there ... then maybe once more on the couch.

He leaned forward to hide the sudden upward curve of his cock.

"Defeating Hydra won't bring anyone back," said Tony, matter of factly but without a hint of condescension.

"I know." Defeating them the first time had robbed him of everyone he loved. In moments of weakness he even wondered if saving the world had been worth it.

"And neither will your death."

Steve hoped his glare properly pointed out the hypocrisy inherent in preaching caution while programming one's robot to take every available risk.

"Do you know how long my father searched for you?"

And with that simple, innocent f-word, Tony instantly disarmed Steve's anger, dampened his arousal. With that pointed question, Tony speared him with a fresh stab of guilt.

"Forty years. Twenty-nine arctic expeditions, many of them personally financed. He had just come back from one when he died."

Steve didn't have words to reply. He found new levels of shame when the thought occurred to him that it may have been the fruitless search, the failure after failure to find his friend, that made Howard the hard, indifferent drunk Tony had known.

"I've never said this before, but I wish he were alive today. I wish he could see you safe."

"I wish he could see _you_ , your inventions, the arc reactor, JARVIS, Iron Man ... He'd be so proud of you."

Tony looked away, uncomfortable, for a moment, turning back when he'd regained his cold composure.

Steve had long thought that Tony had everything in common with his father save Howard's warmth and joy and capacity for strong friendships. He had often wondered how those qualities had managed to skip a generation (so to speak) and appear so obviously and abundantly in Iron Man. He only now realized, after this short painful exchange, that Howard had _lost_ those qualities before Tony was ever born, had never demonstrated them to his son. They _had_ been inherited though, or at least the potential for them, trapped just below Tony's rough surface. It seemed obvious now that he was capable of programming the gentle, selfless, vulnerable Iron Man, even if he was utterly incapable of being so himself.

"I can't promise not to die in battle, soldiers just can't make those kinds of promises. But I can promise that I won't leave things unsaid like before." Steve stood and placed a brotherly, steady hand on Tony's shoulder. 

"What do you mean?" 

"I'm going to go tell Iron Man that I love him."


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Confessions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry the chaps are so tiny. I'm horrible, I know.

"... love?" Tony breathed, eyes blown wide, face suddenly flushed.

"Yes. He's good to me. He makes me laugh and makes me feel safe, and maybe he's not capable of physical attraction, but sex isn't everything, y'know."

"Oh god." Tony put his head in his hands and groaned.

"And sure, he may not feel the same way about me, but he deserves the chance to turn me down himself. He deserves my honesty."

"Steve, you don't understand ..."

"No, _you_ don't understand. This is between Iron Man and me. It's his decision to make. Not yours."

Steve departed with as much dignity as his towel would allow, leaving Tony grasping for words in the lounge. But he found the lab locked, and no amount of pleading with JARVIS would unlock it.

"I'm sorry, Captain, but orders are orders."

"Can you at least ask him to come see me as soon as he can? Can you tell him it's important?"

"Of course, Captain."

\------------------

The next night, when Iron Man arrived, Steve was waiting patiently on the roof.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner," the robot apologized with a hand to the back of his head in a beautiful mimicry of human insecurity.

"It's okay, I know you have a day job. I'm just glad you're here now."

"Mr. Stark said you wanted to tell me something." Iron Man shifted his weight from side to side, so nervous that he must have had some idea of Steve's intentions.

"I do. I wanted to thank you for being such a good friend, for always listening when I want to talk, for always coming when I need you. I wanted to tell you that, no matter what anyone says, I think you're just as much a person as I am ... And that ..." Now that the moment was upon him, Steve felt the first stirrings of uncertainty. The rejection he'd so blithely dismissed the night before seemed a much scarier proposition now that Iron Man was there to deliver it. _But_ , he told himself, _fear of rejection is just hope for acceptance in disguise_. 

And he said it, plain and simple, no more frills ... just three little words that hung, echoing, in the warm night air.

"Steve ..." Iron Man began after a moment of inscrutable silence. "It would never work ..."

Steve swallowed hard, clenched his jaw, unwilling to let his breaking heart show.

" ... But I love you, too."


	13. Chapter 13

Steve fell easily into Iron Man's arms, laying hard, insistent kisses on his golden cheek.

"It could work," he hissed, half believing it himself.

"No," Iron Man practically whispered. He slid cold metal fingers up to glide through Steve's hair, stroked his back with the other hand. "Mr. Stark will see all of it. There's nothing I can do about that. We'll never be truly alone."

"I don't care." Steve should have cared, should have cared deeply, but he was so caught up in being held - being _loved_ \- that he just couldn't. "Tony's a grown man, he should know when to mind his own damn business."

"I ... I don't know what to do ..."

"Do you know what you want?" Steve pulled back to meet Iron Man's gaze.

"I want to you to be happy ... but we just can't do this."

"Why not?" Steve didn't know what to do either. It was obvious what Iron Man really wanted, but it was equally obvious that he'd never be allowed to have it.

"I wish I could explain ... but I'm trying to protect you."

Steve was struck with a sudden clarity. There was something bigger going on here than Tony's pathological possessiveness, and it would be very, _very_ unfair of him to ask Iron Man to overcome this mysterious obstacle.

"Just one night then." He didn't honestly think one night was enough, but it was more than he ever got with Peggy.

After a moment, he wondered if Iron Man would answer at all.

"One night."

\-------------------

They went quietly to the bedroom, where Iron Man's heart brightened the darkness, frosted everything in a dreamy blue.

 _Sex isn't everything_ , Steve reminded himself, even as he stirred within his sweatpants. _This is probably going to be very uncomfortable_ , he warned himself, even as Iron Man tipped him back onto the bedspread and ran a hand slowly down his chest. But no caution could turn him back now; he was with someone he loved, someone beautiful, someone who wanted only to please him, and it was intoxicating, as impairing to all judgment as a bottle of whiskey.

He threw his head back and moaned, full throated, when a hard, flat palm fell against the legnth of his cock and gently rubbed. He grasped at Iron Man's shoulders, but it didn't stop the wild rush that ran up his body.

Iron Man ripped open Steve's pants and circled his straining, longing cock with smooth, cool metal.

No longer in control of himself, Steve bucked up into the loose grip. And the touch felt so good because it felt like _Iron Man_ , yielding and responsive, just as he'd been in Steve's arms on the battlefield, sensitive to the slightest twitch.

Steve was falling apart. There was nothing left of him but what Iron Man was holding. But just as the end drew near, those fingers retreated, leaving Steve to thrust helplessly, whimpering, into thin air.

They returned only gently, in answer to Steve's wordless pleas for mercy, ghosting up and down, exploring every contour and lingering delicately at the tip. Steve shook, forgot how to breathe, burned from the inside out.

"Please ..." he cried, barely conscious of begging. 

And Iron Man relented, gave him the sure, steady grip that he needed, sent him over edge into the sweet madness of release.

Steve couldn't speak for a time, flopping boneless to the bed as Iron Man undressed him fully and laid down beside him.

"Thank you," he finally managed, pressing a kiss to a red metal shoulder. "I hope you don't get in trouble for this."

"I'm sure I'll pay for it one way or another." Iron Man almost sounded breathless himself ... and sad.

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. It was worth it."

Sleepy enough to be satisfied with that, Steve snuggled up to Iron Man - _his_ Iron Man - and let his eyes drift shut.

"Steve?"

"Hm?"

"No matter what happens ... I love you."

"I love you, too." A tear Steve swore he wouldn't shed slipped down to the pillow. "No matter what."

He'd been right.

One night wasn't enough.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve makes a delivery. The Avengers make their move.

Iron Man left at the first light of dawn, and Steve didn't protest. What could he have said?

Steve ate his cornflakes alone, contemplating the mysteries of love in hopeless places. And eventually, after his coffee had gone cold, he came to the conclusion that he couldn't just let Iron Man go ... Certainly not without a few last gestures to prove his love would be there waiting whenever the bot found himself free of constraints.

\--------------------------

After a quick stop at the florist and a long contest of wills with JARVIS, Steve barged into Tony's lab.

"You know," Tony grumbled without looking up from the bench where he was fiddling with one of Iron Man's detached hands, "they make dolls you can have sex with. You don't have to get spooge on my billion-dollar piece of equipment. From what I hear you can even have sex with real live people if you need to get off so bad."

"It's really none of your business who or what I have sex with, Tony."

"It is when I have to clean up after you! Oh my god, did you bring him _flowers_?"

"He might just be a billion dollar piece of equipment to you, but he's much more than that to me." Steve set the spray of red roses on the bench, daring Tony to be any more disgusted than he already was.

"Get out of my lab and take your fucking flowers with you."

Steve left, but he didn't take the flowers.

\----------

They didn't have to wait long for Natasha's report. She'd barely been embedded a week before she sent word of an impending giant octopus attack and an unholy alliance with AIM. She was still unsure what exactly was being made (some kind of cube which wasn't a tesseract), but she had secured the coordinates of several smaller hideouts within the city itself, including a likely time and place to find Zemo and Strucker in conference.

That was more than enough for practical purposes, and Fury pulled her off the floating base and into a full-team flush-and-grab maneuver.

Steve was proud to say he kept his cool, even when Zemo slipped through the SHIELD perimeter and led them on a merry chase through back alleys and across crowded streets. The initial strike had gone so well, netting them Strucker and Reaper for the relatively low price of scrapes, cuts and bruises ... but Steve would have gladly paid much more to catch Zemo instead.

Iron Man, high above, scanned for the hooded swordsman and relayed directions to the team below. Thor hung back to help Coulson with a squad of pursuing aircraft. Hulk burst ahead with a roar, veins throbbing, as he literally tore through anything between him and his prey.

Steve, Tasha and Clint soon lost sight of all of them, blindly following Iron Man's instructions and praying they were not running right into an ambush.

"Shit! He's going into the church! Thor, I need you now!"

"With all haste, my metal friend!" Thor answered, though he was half a city away by then.

"Steve, you guys stay outside. He's probably gonna make a break for it when Hulk catches up. I'm going in."

"We're almost there," Steve huffed, sprinting around a corner, then another, outpacing Natasha in his haste. Clint dashed up a nearby fire escape for a better view.

But they were too late. Steve skidded to a halt outside the cathedral only to see it shudder and heave in time with Hulk's roars ... and crumble with a long, angry roar of its own.

"Avengers, sound off!" he cried when the dust began to clear.

"Widow here," Natasha coughed over the comm.

"And I," added Thor.

"Hawkeye up top. I can see one of Zemo's boots sticking out of the rubble, and Hulk is definitely still under there, might have to dig him out. No sign of Iron Man."

No sign.

Steve trembled, blood running ice cold in his veins. 

Hydra had done it again ... taken something precious from him in its death throes.

"Thor, you start digging for Banner. Widow, see if Zemo's still alive. Hawkeye, cover her. I'll look for Iron Man," Steve barked, already wading into what had once been the spectacular gothic pastiche of St. Patrick's.

His search didn't take more than ten minutes, but those minutes felt like harrowing years of grief and prayer.

 _It's okay_ he kept telling himself. _Tony's probably got him backed up on a hard drive somewhere. Iron Man's invincible._ But it didn't help, nor did it change the fact that even a carbon copy wouldn't really be _his_ Iron Man.

Finally a glimmer of gold caught his eye, and granite fell away to reveal the inhuman Avenger in one piece, arc reactor shining bright and strong.

There was only one problem ...

Iron Man was bleeding.


	15. Chapter 15

The shock hit him like a slap across his face.

_Blood._

It was more than shock. It was fear. It was a hard grip of betrayal and anger constricting his throat.

The wound was not large, just a gash on the bicep, opened by Zemo's blade, just deep enough to find flesh beneath the metal.

_Human._

It made him sick, bent him over, broke him open.

_It's armor._

There were voices buzzing in his ear, but he was barely aware of what was being said. There was something about Zemo that he just couldn't find the space to care about. Something about Banner. Something about incoming SHIELD agents.

_It's a secret._

And before the voices became faces, he knelt, no longer in control of himself, body leaping into action while his mind stood stunned. He wrestled Iron Man over his shoulder and hauled him away.

"Did you find him, Cap?" Coulson asked over the comm.

"Yes, but he's hurt. I've gotta get him back to the lab." Steve struggled under Iron Man's dead weight, shuffling quickly away from prying eyes. "I'll be back soon."

"Make it quick."

\-----------

Steve hadn't gone far, gently jostling curious civilians out of the way, when Happy pulled up in a black town car.

"I can take him from here, just lay him down in back."

Still in a fog, Steve let Iron Man be taken from his arms, helped Happy pack him up and stared as the car sped away toward the tower. He dropped, shivering, to the curb, put his face in his hands, and rocked in time to his racing pulse.

_He's human._

"You okay, Cap?" a passing stranger asked, not unkindly.

"No," he confessed without looking up.

_And if he's human ..._

And if he was human ... there was really only one human he could be.

\-------------

Debriefing was hell. Coulson kept asking him what was wrong and not believing him when he said 'nothing.' Steve had to relive every moment of the last few hours over and over again without letting something slip. He longed for quiet, for a chance to _think_.

But when he got home, and all was quiet at last, he didn't know _what_ to think. He was still fiercely angry, still shaken and ... strangely guilty, as if _he'd_ been the one with a deep, dark secret all this time. He wondered what had caused Iron Man to hide his identity so thoroughly ... wondered if that identity was really ... could it be ...

He needed something to distract him, something to help him sleep through this nightmare. 

He found himself at the bookshelf.

After a moment he chose just the right one, and it helped.

\------------

Silence greeted him when he entered the lab the next morning.

The roses were in a pitcher on the bench.

Tony was hard at work on Iron Man's arm, probing the split bicep with slender silver instruments. As usual he didn't look up, but his back and shoulders tensed fearfully.

"How is he?"

If it was possible, Tony tensed even further.

"Have you ever read Cyrano de Bergerac?" Steve asked when it became clear that Tony wasn't going to find the right lie to tell anytime soon.

Tony shook his head.

"You should. It' very interesting." Steve circled around Tony, slowly so as not to startle, and approached Iron Man directly, looking him right in his empty eyes. "It's about a guy named Cyrano, who's in love with a girl named Roxane. Unfortunately, Cyrano is ugly, and Roxane has a thing for the handsome, young Christian." He ran his hand gently over the darkened glass where the arc reactor should have been glowing cheerfully. "But Cyrano loves Roxane so much that he just wants her to be happy, and he tells Christian what to say in his letters and love poems and stuff. Then Christian dies in battle. In the end Cyrano dies, too, just as Roxane discovers what he sacrificed for her ... and realizes who she's really been in love with all along. Not the handsome Christian ..." He turned his gaze to Tony, who looked about to bolt, "but the man who wrote her all those beautiful words."

"Well, I'm glad we had this talk." Tony squirmed, his repairs long forgotten. "And thank you for getting Iron Man out of there so discreetly last night -"

"Tony," Steve snapped, "I'm trying to tell you that I don't love Iron Man for his looks." 

He chose his next words very carefully. 

"I love him for who he is on the inside ... I love him for his heart," he whispered, meeting Tony's panicked eyes with all the intensity he could summon.

"How romantic," Tony tried for humor, but his voice shook.

Seized with a sudden urgency, a pounding need to confirm his suspicion, Steve took a long step forward and crowded Tony's space, kept coming until he had the smaller man backed up to the wall, the clatter of fallen tools chiming in the background.

Taking a wild, crazy chance, he laid a heavy hand against Tony's chest, and they both gasped when his fingers felt a hard, flat surface where there should have been flesh and bone.

"What's that?" he breathed.

"His heart."


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NSFW. 
> 
> That is all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long. I hope it meets any and all expectations :3

"May I ... ?" Steve's fingers trembled, his whole body alive with a strange sense of relief.

Tony nodded, still frightened, but growing braver as it became clear that Steve wasn't going to hit him. Tony took the hem of his sweatshirt gingerly in hand and lifted it shyly, looking away as it bared a quivering stomach ... and a clear, cold, blue glow.

And as Steve pressed Tony to the wall with a punishing, passionate kiss, he realized why he'd felt guilty the night before: Because he should have known. He should have known there was more to Tony than a high IQ and a lavish lifestyle. He should have known Iron Man was just too human, too much of a Stark to be a tangle of wire in a tin can.

And he tried to make up for it with his lips and teeth and tongue, with a hard embrace and a nudge of his hips.

"I'm so sorry," Tony breathed when Steve slid lower to nip at his neck. "Are you angry?"

"Furious," Steve growled, though the taste of Tony's skin was making him dizzy and tingly and so fucking _hard_.

He pulled back and lifted off that damn hoodie, gentling when he brushed the wound on Tony's arm and made him wince. With a soft, apologetic kiss to the bloody bandage, he dropped to his knees.

Too far gone for hesitation, Steve leaned forward and placed a little, experimental lovebite to the bulging denim before him.

"You sure?" Tony asked, voice quavering.

"I owe you one, don't I?" Steve grinned as he unbuttoned, unzipped and pawed past red silk to find what he was looking for.

He was uncertain, at first, about his technique, but Tony's cock tasted good - a little bitter, almost metallic - and he soon found a rhythm that made Tony make _noises_. He only gagged a bit, putting superhuman muscle control to good use and taking Tony as deep as he'd go, working the back of his throat around him.

"Jesus!" Tony wailed, grabbing Steve's hair and clutching hard enough to hurt.

Steve reached down and opened his own jeans, took himself in hand and squeezed out a stream of precum to slick his fingers. He knew just by the feel of himself that he wouldn't last much longer. It was too much for him to know _who_ he was doing this to, to know _who_ he'd be properly fucking that night on the coffee table, who he'd be fighting alongside the next day. It was the machine that he loved ... and the man that he'd wanted.

"God, Steve ..."

Tony was just _using_ his mouth now, gently but firmly pumping in and out, relentless and delicious.

"Yeah ..." he huffed. "Just like that."

When Steve came, he moaned, mouth still full of cock, his orgasm ripping the life out of him and spattering it on the wall between Tony's legs.

Tony followed, a heartbeat later, and Steve swallowed without a second thought, finding he enjoyed the warmth sliding down his throat, liked the twitch of flesh along his tongue.

With a sigh, Tony lowered himself to straddle Steve's legs, kiss him deep and slow, and once more whisper "I'm sorry."

"I just don't understand why you didn't tell me. I know you trust me." Steve laid his cheek against the arc reactor, vaguely wondering how it got there, what purpose it served. He let his eyes drift closed.

"I do. It's just that ... when Iron Man was first recruited by SHIELD, _I_ showed up. I tried to explain that we're a package deal, that I expected to be more than just the pit crew. And ... well ... Fury doesn't really like me."

Steve grinned at the hyperbolic understatement.

"He said if I ever set foot on SHIELD property again he'd shoot me himself ... and anyone who helped me get there. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't _actually_ kill us, but ... he's a powerful man. And there are lots of ways to hurt people."

"Thank you for trying to protect me." Steve pulled back so he could meet Tony's gaze. "And you're right, there's no way I could have pretended not to love you both. Someone would have caught on. But it still hurts."

"Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

"Well ... there is one thing."

\----------------

"The truth is ..." Tony took one last look at the ninety-odd reporters, their pens at the ready, at the lenses framing his face for the viewing public. His eyes bounced from camera to camera, from person to person, from CNN to NBC to the NYT and the WSJ, his head spinning in a sea of acronyms and potential headlines.

Then he saw Steve, leaning against the back wall, smiling so proudly.

"... I am Iron Man."

**Author's Note:**

> The end.


End file.
